Mark Lamster

Holiday Books Redux

Due to some difficult deadlines, or maybe just negligence, I missed the Design Observer group holiday book roundup. Apologies! Let me rectify that by highlighting a couple of new publications that would make fine gifts for the architect, designer, writer, or otherwise thoughtful person in your life.

Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout By Lauren RednissLet me ask you this: How many books do you own with a cover that glows in the dark? None? So now we've established that you're going to buy this book, and we haven't even gotten to the interior. Redniss is a charming illustrator (think Maira Kalman) and empathetic storyteller with great feel for her subject. Science is so often treated in a sterile manner, but this book about clinicians is never clinical. Caveat emptor: Lauren is a friend.

Ordering DisorderBy Khoi VinhThis new elements of style for web design, by the former online design director of the NYT, will lead you to clarity—and not just on the Internet. Also, if you're interested in design, New York, photography, dogs, baseball, literature, food, and people who are very smart, be sure to bookmark Khoi's blog, subtraction.com. [PS: I think he's a consultant to Design Observer.]

Gerd Arntz: Graphic DesignerEdited by Ed Annink, Max Bruinsma Mr. Poynor is the resident expert around these parts on the history of Dutch design, but you can take my word that this book on the master of the pictogram will be something you spend a great deal of time with. Arntz doesn't have much of a name here in the States, so this book is of special value.

Cartographies of TimeBy Daniel Rosenberg and Anthony GraftonA visual history of the time line, published (by my old employer, Princeton Architectural Press) in the spirit of Edward Tufte—that is to say, a work of tremendous intellectual breadth produced with great love and quality materials.

I actually have one book that glows in the dark. Our web design studio Plat4M.sk has issued one book which has been written by famous Slovak author prof. Katarina Horak.

What we have done is that we used phosphorus for the cover. The title of the book can be translated to something like this: Warning signals of your body: heart and vessels in danger.

Heart diseases are a big issue nowadays. Therefore we have decided to make an extraordinary cover with a picture of blood cells and a big title by phosphorus. So when you turn the lights off, the title glows in the dark. You can find the book here https://www.mingle.sk/varovne-signaly-tela.html